How to tell when a Poecilotheria male is mature?

[ErinM31]

Based on the information I could find:

• MM Poecilotheria do not have tibial hooks.
• Males of many (all?) species become muted in color in their final molts.
• The distal tarsi of the pedipalps becomes larger, but do not have the obvious boxing-glove appearance seen in many terrestrial T’s.

Is all this correct? Are their any additional signs (besides sperm webs)?

My P. regalis dramatically changed color with their last molt and all growth appears to have gone to their legs. The pedipalps do not yet look mature to me and I’m thinking they have another molt to go. Thoughts?

Prior to last molt:

Poecilotheria regalis

• ErinM31
• May 4, 2018
• arboreal indian ornamental tarantula poecilotheria poecilotheria regalis regalis tarantula

Another photo of my beauty! :) She has always often been out to admire and since her last molt...

Current:

Male P. regalis?!

• ErinM31
• Jun 9, 2018
• 5
• indian ornamental tarantula poecilotheria poecilotheria regalis regalis

So right after my male B. hamorii matures into a lady, my female P. regalis turns out to be a...

Pedipalps:

 

[YagerManJennsen]

All tarantula males upon maturation will have bulbous pedipalps. Look for swollen palps with a streak of red on them. I forgot exactly what the red thing is called. It's hard to tell in the picture if your Ts pedipalps are showing maturity.

 

[ErinM31]

All tarantula males upon maturation will have bulbous pedipalps. Look for swollen palps with a streak of red on them. I forgot exactly what the red thing is called.

The red will be on the underside?

 

[YagerManJennsen]

The red will be on the underside?

Should be on the tips of the palps but not directly on the foot pads. Easy to spot with a flash light.

 

[ErinM31]

Should be on the tips of the palps but not directly on the foot pads. Easy to spot with a flash light.

Thank you! I shall watch for this. I’m now nearly positive they’re not mature yet but am surprised their legs lengthened so much before the final molt, but then I’m used to NW terrestrials.

 

[KezyGLA]

That is a mature male.

I can see the emboli.

 

[boina]

Poecilotheria males change colors with their maturing molt and not before. ONLY mature males show those muted colors you cited. Their emboli are not that obvious, but the last segment of the pedipalps is actually shorter then before.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

Mature male, they change colors and get the bulbous pedipalps with the final molt.

 

[ErinM31]

That is a mature male.

I can see the emboli.

Poecilotheria males change colors with their maturing molt and not before. ONLY mature males show those muted colors you cited. Their emboli are not that obvious, but the last segment of the pedipalps is actually shorter then before.

Mature male, they change colors and get the bulbous pedipalps with the final molt.

Thank you so much!!!

Guess it’s time to post in the invertsonals...

 

[MrsHaas]

Maybe I’m wrong but I coulda sworn my MM P. rufilata had hooks but they were difficult to make out - but it’s been so long I don’t remember. Here’s my verbal explanation (pics do much more justice!): Once your pokie matures as a male, it will become dull and more plain in color and pattern and it will have SUUUUPER long legs, from especially. It will look more fuzzy/hairy than their female counterparts and have a much smaller abdomen. They will also have throbbing, bright red emboli - u cant miss it!! On the underside of their abdomen they have that proverbial “dot” rather than a wide, hugely noticeable slit btw their two set of book lungs (my AF P. striata has a “lady slit” u can seefrom across the room!) and also, u may hear the males tap the glass or perhaps their hide from time to time. The tapping is more usual/ frequent if your MM is housed near AF pokies (or sometimes even if completely diff AF species - my MM P. rufilata used to tap at my AF OBT lol). I have crappy WiFi right now, but I’ll post personal pics when I get a better signal...

 

[ErinM31]

Maybe I’m wrong but I coulda sworn my MM P. rufilata had hooks but they were difficult to make out - but it’s been so long I don’t remember. Here’s my verbal explanation (pics do much more justice!): Once your pokie matures as a male, it will become dull and more plain in color and pattern and it will have SUUUUPER long legs, from especially. It will look more fuzzy/hairy than their female counterparts and have a much smaller abdomen. They will also have throbbing, bright red emboli - u cant miss it!! On the underside of their abdomen they have that proverbial “dot” rather than a wide, hugely noticeable slit btw their two set of book lungs (my AF P. striata has a “lady slit” u can seefrom across the room!) and also, u may hear the males tap the glass or perhaps their hide from time to time. The tapping is more usual/ frequent if your MM is housed near AF pokies (or sometimes even if completely diff AF species - my MM P. rufilata used to tap at my AF OBT lol). I have crappy WiFi right now, but I’ll post personal pics when I get a better signal...

Thank you for the explanation and I look forward to the photos! I’ve seen all signs except the red emboli, but I haven’t seen him from the underside post-molt. Also no tapping yet, but then he’s still just post-molt. My only other pokie (at present) is young, but he is next door to a freshly molted AF B. hamorii so we’ll see if he gets any crazy ideas!

 

[Nightstalker47]

Maybe I’m wrong but I coulda sworn my MM P. rufilata had hooks but they were difficult to make out - but it’s been so long I don’t remember. Here’s my verbal explanation (pics do much more justice!): Once your pokie matures as a male, it will become dull and more plain in color and pattern and it will have SUUUUPER long legs, from especially. It will look more fuzzy/hairy than their female counterparts and have a much smaller abdomen. They will also have throbbing, bright red emboli - u cant miss it!! On the underside of their abdomen they have that proverbial “dot” rather than a wide, hugely noticeable slit btw their two set of book lungs (my AF P. striata has a “lady slit” u can seefrom across the room!) and also, u may hear the males tap the glass or perhaps their hide from time to time. The tapping is more usual/ frequent if your MM is housed near AF pokies (or sometimes even if completely diff AF species - my MM P. rufilata used to tap at my AF OBT lol). I have crappy WiFi right now, but I’ll post personal pics when I get a better signal...

Agree on the tapping part, none of the poecs have tibial hooks though.

 

[MrsHaas]

Agree on the tapping part, none of the poecs have tibial hooks though.

Yeah, no you’re right... no hooks, my bad lol I’m going to post my pics soon but for some reason AGAIN I’m not getting access to them so gimme a hour or so lol

 

[Venom1080]

I swear my vittata was quite obviously a male from like 3.5". Been a while. And I'm way too lucky with female pokies to get many males of the genus.

 

[MrsHaas]

Ok, finally, here are the pics.... the first is my make p rufilata before maturity and the second is after. This is the SAME T, just before and after maturing... U can DEF tell the diff. A female would keep looking like the first pic forever but u will def know ur pokie has matured when it molts and changes so drastically:

Before maturity (male P. rufilata):


MM rufilata:

 

[Sami]

Sorry to jack this thread, but my Male P. Regalis has recently molted, and at 6" I was pretty sure he was mature, but seeing this thread and these pics I'm thinking he is in fact not. How much bigger is he gonna get?

 

[Arachnophoric]

Sorry to jack this thread, but my Male P. Regalis has recently molted, and at 6" I was pretty sure he was mature, but seeing this thread and these pics I'm thinking he is in fact not. How much bigger is he gonna get?

Are you certain it's a male? Have you sexed it via molt, or just ventral sexing photos? Despite how accurate/easy ventral sexing is said to be with Poecis, two of which looked very male by their ventral have turned out female in my own collection.

If it is actually male, I'd say it's safe to suspect he's penultimate. I'd guess as much as the pattern looks mildly reduced compared to my 6"+ female. Some males mature at larger sizes than others, you're just gonna have one very large boy.

 

[Sami]

Are you certain it's a male? Have you sexed it via molt, or just ventral sexing photos? Despite how accurate/easy ventral sexing is said to be with Poecis, two of which looked very male by their ventral have turned out female in my own collection.

If it is actually male, I'd say it's safe to suspect he's penultimate. I'd guess as much as the pattern looks mildly reduced compared to my 6"+ female. Some males mature at larger sizes than others, you're just gonna have one very large boy.

Ah, well yea I have only ventrally sexed it, and had others ventral sex it. This is the only molt it's had with me, and it was a pretty crispy molt by the time I got to it.

First pic is before molt where I thought there was a pretty obvious "dot", second one I took just today and don't really see it anymore... Would love for it to be female lol